Poet, Novelist. She is remembered for her writings that later influenced the British authors, William Wordsworth , Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. She should also be remembered for being a resourceful, independent woman in an era when this trait was rare. Born as the oldest of three children in a well-to-do family, she was the daughter of Nicholas Turner and his first wife, Anna Towers. After her mother died when she was three, the children were sent to their aunt's home where she received a proper education. At the early age of fifteen on February 23, 1765, she married Benjamin Smith, the son of a wealthy merchant and director of the East Indian Trading Company. Her father had arranged this marriage for a release of a gambling debt. She would later compare this unhappy marriage to legal prostitution. Her husband proved to be physically and emotionally abusive making their home not safe for her and her children. Her husband's wealth did not last, and in 1783, Charlotte, along with her children, shared his sentence in debtor's prison for several months. While in debtor's prison, she wrote the “Elegiac Poems” which was an instant success with its melancholy and sadness. Fearing more imprisonment, the family escaped to France because of debts. She gave birth to her 12th child, George, in Dicppe, France in 1785. While in France, she supported her family by translating French literature into English and publishing “Manon L'Escau” in 1785 and “Roman of Real Life” in 1786. By 1787, she was back in England, had a legal separation from her husband, and a single mother with a house full of children depending on her. At this point, she decided to publish more of her writings to support her children. Since novels proved to be a better source of income than poetry, she began to write novels to earn a living for her family. “Emmeline” was published in 1788, which sold 1,500 copies within months; “Ethelinde” in 1789 and “Celestina” in 1791; then in 1792 “Desmond,” which was a tale of a young man's love for a married woman; and what is considered her best work, “The Old Manor House” in 1793. Other novels were “Wandering of Warwick” and “The Banished Man” in 1794, “Montabert” in 1795, “Marchmont” in 1796, and “The Young Philosopher” in 1798, which has a character that left the injustices of England for America in hope of a better life. She published her novels under her own name, which was unheard of during this time of history. Her writings, besides being romantic and describing the beauty of the English countryside , touched on the English class system, political issues, and social injustice of that era; subjects she knew personally. She wrote about the grief following the loss of her oldest son at age one and her second son age ten with tuberculosis. Her father-in-law attempted to leave her children the majority of his estate in a poorly-written will, but since she was Smith's wife, her husband had claim to any money that she acquired by inheritance or from the selling of her books. The will stayed in probate court for years. This tragedy became the theme for Dickens' novel “Bleak House” in 1853. Living in poverty, she moved frequently as her income did not always pay the rent when due. Toward the end of her life, she turned to writing instructive books for children, the best being “Conversations Introducing Poetry for the Use of Children” in 1804. A collection of her poems and manuscripts was published posthumously in 1807 under the title “”Beachy Head and Other Poems.” Since she did not want to burden her family with any debts after her death, she wrote this in poor health while barely able to hold a pen. From the description of her illness, it is thought she had crippling rheumatoid arthritis. She was a successful writer, publishing ten novels, three books of poetry, four children's books and other assorted works over the course of her career. The detailed prefaces of her books gave highly personal and autobiographical material. In February 1806, her husband died in debtor's prison, and she finally received some of the money he owned her; this was eight months before her death. The father-in-law's will was finally settled on April 22, 1813 and after paying the court cost, the remaining children received mere pennies. She was survived by six of her twelve children with one of her sons becoming Sir Lionel Smith, 1st Baronet, the Governor of Barbados. Her younger sister Catherine Anne Turner Dorset, authored several children's books.